We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Rubalcaba recently and have shared our conversation below.
Daniel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.
Over the years we have helped people with regaining their independence from “food addictions” to completely changing directions in their lifestyles. Here is one of our best success stories.
Kristy Gregerson approached us in 2017 with a long list of questions and issues. We discussed her severe limitations including chronic hip and back problems as well as inflammation and struggles with balancing.
Being a woman in her late 60’s she had a lot of concerns with ensuring a safe and effective program. She had worked with physical therapists and had minimal success and this was her breaking point. She was searching for the perfect match and found us on Google by reading other testimonials and reviews. At ALIO Fitness Club our main focus has always been to accommodate and support our members with the safest journey.
We gladly agreed to do a health assessment with Kristy because we knew we could help her move into a positive direction. Upon arrival I helped her from her car to the front door, then to the consultation room. Her lack of mobility and pain levels exceeded our typical encounters.
I listened to her desire to become healthier, and I knew that this would be a long journey with a positive outcome. We set forth a plan that consisted of personal training and proper nutrition. My focus was to regain her mobility and improve her stability. I targeted stretching alongside strength training to help build her joints and muscles back up.
Her initial goal was to walk normal again and sleep without pain. Her secondary goal was to lose 30 pounds. As her trainer I set my own goals for her as well. I felt the passion behind every session. Together after a full year of working on these goals we were able to accomplish what she believed to be nearly impossible. She was able to sign up for our small group training classes. This consists of a faster paced environment with most clients ranging between 25-35 years old.
I monitored her the entire way and kept her at a comfortable pace. She improved significantly month by month and in her third year as a member I entered her into our 6 week fitness challenge. This is a full body transformation challenge that tackles strict dieting, intense workouts, and outside of the gym homework. She entered as our oldest competitor and ended up winning our 6 week challenge out of 30 other competitors. Her results were an impressive 6% decrease in body fat and 2% increase in muscle mass.
To this day Kristy continues with her fitness journey into her 70’s and has inspired every member in our gym one way or another. We have shared her journey on the local news as well as in city publications.
Our mission as a leading fitness studio in San Antonio Texas has been driven by success stories such as hers. Our team will continue to represent this with our new location called HOUSE OF ALIO.
Daniel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Growing up I was on the heavier side, and I remember clearly knowing firsthand what hazing and bullying was like. All I wanted to do was prove to the other kids that I was just as good as they were. I wanted to feel accepted.
In middle school I set my pathway to becoming healthier. I found Muscle and Fitness magazines and read through them more so than any school textbook. I idolized bodybuilding and body transformations. In my 3 years of middle school I lost over 50 pounds. In high school I amplified myself even more so and joined the powerlifting team, and assisted with teaching the strength and conditioning program for our football team.
My senior year in high school was when I set my mind to compete in a bodybuilding competition. I found a local gym owner who took me under his wing and gave my dreams real purpose. I competed that summer upon graduating and won my first show which was so big for me coming from my past experiences.
This motivated me to pursue a Kinesiology degree at UTSA. As a freshman I continued with my personal journey and competed once more in a higher division and also won this show. I remember thinking to myself how unreal this all felt and that I wish others could experience this type of success.
My parents supported me with every decision I ever made and I told them that I wanted to open a fitness club after graduating college. I’ve received validation and confidence with my own abilities, so the time came to doing so for others.
My junior year was when I became certified as a professional trainer and I reached out to my gym mentor for a space to rent as an independent trainer at his facility. Again he took me under his wing and helped me gain clients and experience with different body types.
I began to save the money that I made from personal training and that year I met Samuel. He became my best friend and inspiration. At the time he was ranked as the number one trainer for Golds Gym. I admired his work ethic, commitment to fitness and his high level performance.
We created a business plan together with huge ambitions of opening a gym. He discovered the name “ALIO” meaning purpose in Latin. We created an elaborate plan and we worked several nights together perfecting our brand.
2 years after graduating from UTSA I was given the opportunity to take over a local gym that had struggled to stay afloat. It was a solo venture and a huge risk to take on at 23. My parents and friends all pitched in to help remodel the space and gain new members.
When that lease came to an end, Samuel approached me and said he was ready to leave Golds to follow our dreams. We signed a new lease on the previous location and we named it ALIO FITNESS CLUB.
Together we put our entire savings, sold our cars and furniture and anything of value to put back into the business. I moved in with my wife back into my parents house to be able to pour every dime back into the gym.
In 3 years of operating we were named the number one fitness club in San Antonio. Mind Body awarded us a national recognition for becoming one of the fastest profiting gyms in their database. In 2018 we privately funded our own scholarship with UTSA to help put other students through our same degree plan.
Now in 2024 we have yet again ventured out into building two new businesses. The first one is an open gym concept that offers top tier fitness equipment and personal trainers.
Opening alongside will be our cafe bar that will serve locals from the first robot operated bartender in Texas. Our cafe bar offers healthy snacks, meal preps, juices and of course alcohol for a balanced lifestyle. The name of our cafe bar is Unhireable Lounge hence the robotic bartender.
Our future plans are to open studios in other major cities while providing a unique experience at each club. Our passion is driven by our purpose everyday. This is what will take us further and further.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m sure for a lot of entrepreneurs that the biggest impact to their business was covid. For the fitness industry especially. We were hit hard because gyms were shut down as a non-essential. Mind blowing right? Our terms still required that we paid rent throughout the pandemic. Even during the months of being forced to lock our doors.
We did not stop there. We instead created an online platform and invested in our branded app to upload home workouts to for our members. We lost roughly half of our memberships, but the other half was encouraged by our commitment to hold them accountable. We worked daily to upload new content and provide guidance throughout.
Now as a fully operating gym we are still able to implement the online training program as another revenue stream. This is one scenario where a negative impact created a positive outcome.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Reputation is everything when it comes to leading people in your direction. People follow success. They are drawn to confident individuals. My market is mostly weight loss focused, but my target audience is general fitness. My specialty is connections. How I speak to others as if they are my family and friends rather than a paying customer. I put forward their emotions before my own. When a client enters my studio, my job is to give them a positive experience and uplift their day in any way possible. I pride myself in being involved with my members and clients life’s outside of the gym. I stay in touch with previous members and clients who have fallen out from the gym as well. My biggest advice to gaining the trust from others is to connect with them on a personal level where you can fully understand them. We all want to be valued.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.aliofitnessclubs.com
- Instagram: House of Alio
- Facebook: Https://www.facebook.com/aliofitnessclub
- Other: Our Instagram accounts are:House of Alio
Unhireable Lounge
ALIO FITNESS CLUBWe can also be found on Google for reviews.
Image Credits
Photographer Reece Predmore